Out of the Box
by hmweasley
Summary: When Harry suggests a family game of Quidditch on his day off, Albus is less than thrilled. Thanks to his mother, he ends up playing anyway. After he accidentally uses his wand to block the Quaffle, the family is torn over how to handle the situation.


All Albus had wanted was a quick breakfast before he slipped back up to his room and avoided his family for the rest of the day. Instead, his father had decided that having the whole family together was the perfect opportunity to ruin his plans.

"You know, I have the day off today. How about a family game of Quidditch?"

James and Lily were quick to voice their stamps of approval, with Lily clapping her hands together in excitement, and Ginny agreed with only one comment about how they should have been getting some much needed housework done instead.

It was only after the rest of the family fell quiet that Albus bothered to look up from his porridge and noticed they were waiting for him to voice a decision. He had figured they already knew his answer would be a resounding no."

"I really don't like Quidditch," he said with a pout.

He shouldn't have had to say it out loud, and he hated that he was always having to remind them of basic facts about himself. Though he'd been trying to go easier on his dad since their time spent in Godric's Hollow, he found it difficult, at times, to be entirely forgiving.

"Everyone else is playing, Al," Lily whined, leaning over and giving him her customary puppy dog eyes.

He ignored her as he took another bite of his porridge. The look may have worked on their father, but it was less effective on the rest of them, not that it stopped her from trying every time she wanted something.

"No," he said. "Leave me alone. I have better things to do than flying around and throwing Quaffles all day."

"Like what?" James asked with a smirk. "Sitting in your room and staring at the wall like you usually do all summer?"

Albus glared. He did plenty of things in his room, even if James would never acknowledge them as "real" hobbies. Just because he didn't find them fun didn't mean he needed to insult them. They couldn't all talk about Quidditch twenty-four seven without getting bored.

"Come on, Al," Ginny said gently, placing her hand over his. "It'll be fun for the whole family to spend time together. It won't take long, and then you can go right back to doing whatever you want."

The part about it not taking long was a lie. They all knew it was. Potter family Quidditch games could last all day as everyone tried to insist they could win if they just played five more minutes. The idea of it filled Albus' stomach with dread, but his mother was giving him a look that, unlike Lily's pout, was impossible to ignore. He stabbed his spoon into his porridge, splattering some of it onto his hand in the process.

"Fine," he grumbled, sticking a spoonful of porridge into his mouth with more force than was necessary.

He would play if he had to, but he wouldn't let them think he was happy about it.

* * *

Standing in the middle of the field outside their home, Harry clapped his hands and rubbed them together like Albus remembered referees doing before games back in the days when he'd bothered to attend the Quidditch matches his parents got tickets to.

"All right," Harry said, looking around at his family. "I'm thinking Ginny, Lily, and James on one team with me and Albus on the other."

James wasted no time making his opinion known as Albus grimaced behind him.

"No way! That's not fair. Albus is useless at Quidditch. There's no challenge."

Ginny levelled him with a sharp gaze that softened his anger but didn't stop him from protesting further.

"I'm just saying," he muttered. "You were a professional player, Mum, who could pummel us all into the ground, and, Dad, you may have been a good Seeker, but you're a mediocre Chaser at best. You need someone to prop you up."

His attempt at flattery didn't soften Ginny or prompt her to take his side like he had hoped.

"I think your dad's idea sounds best," Ginny told James. "I'll be Keeper. You and Lily can be our Chasers."

Lily giggled.

"She's doing that because she'd beat you as a Chaser, Dad."

Harry rolled his eyes playfully, a small smile on his lips. Ginny turned her back on them to hide her smirk as she gathered their brooms from where they were laying on the ground.

Albus gripped his l broom with reluctance when Ginny handed it to him. His stomach twisted itself into knots as his father looked at him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"How about being Keeper?" Harry suggested. "I can play Chaser, since I know you don't like it."

Albus shrugged, trying and failing to dislodge his dad's hand in the process.

"Whatever is fine," he said. "It's not like I want to be either one."

Harry's hesitant smile grew strained in response.

They took their positions. Almost immediately, the sky grew wild. Albus was too accustomed to failure during Quidditch to bother with competition, but that wasn't true for the rest of his family, who were determined to have bragging rights until their next match. His father didn't go easy on James and Lily, but they put up more than enough of a fight in response.

It took two minutes before the Quaffle flew towards Albus' assigned goalpost. It was going to enter the hoop; he couldn't fly fast enough to make it there in time. All he could remember was that he was supposed to stop the ball from going in. The rest of the rules fled him as his instinct to keep the ball away at whatever cost took over. He pulled his wand from his pocket.

The ball went flying away from the hoop, and as his family froze in mid air, Albus realized his mistake. He flew away from them to hide his burning cheeks.

"That's cheating!" James exclaimed. "He used his wand. Did you see that? That doesn't count. We deserve a penalty!"

Albus didn't argue as he hovered in the air, wand hanging from his hand as if he might need it again. He made eye contact with his dad before looking away as Harry rubbed the back of his neck.

"It was unconventional," Harry said slowly, "but we aren't playing by the rulebook. We don't even have any Beaters, and we didn't declare wands against the—"

"Bullshit!" James exclaimed, ignoring Ginny's protests at his language. "We didn't have to! It was understood. You don't use your wand in Quidditch. That takes the fun out of it."

Harry was determined to take Albus' side, though it was clear from his hesitance that he found little to support in his position.

"Trying new rules from time to time can make things fun too."

James groaned, throwing his arms up to the sky.

"But he's underage too! He's not supposed to be performing magic outside school, Dad. Shouldn't you be punishing him for that anyway? You're in charge of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"That never stopped you before you were seventeen," Lily pointed out, pulling her broom to a stop beside her oldest brother's.

James glared at her, but she smirked and crossed her arms against her chest.

"Besides," she continued, "if Al can use his wand, then he might be a challenge. Merlin knows he won't be without his wand. Your throw was terrible there, James, and you still would have made it."

Albus groaned, turning his back on them to fly closer to his designated goalpost. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be forced to sit out the game or if he'd be offended by it.

"That's true," James reluctantly admitted.

Harry and Ginny shared a look that their kids pretended not to notice. Albus tried to pick out individual blades of grass from where he hovered in the air.

"I think it's fine," Ginny said. "If everyone else is okay with it, I say that anyone who wants to use their wand is allowed. But charms and counter-spells only. No jinxes or hexes."

James and Lily both nodded, Lily with a smile and James with a mutter of, "She even has to take the fun out of using magic."

Harry smiled and flew towards Albus, raising his hand for a high five. Albus gave it to him reluctantly before he positioned himself in front of the goalpost again, allowing himself the smallest of smiles as the Quaffle was put into play again.

* * *

 **Prompts:**

 **Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments**

Seasonal Challenges - Days of the Year: National Hunting and Fishing Day - Write about a father and son bonding

 **HPFC**

Are You Crazy Enough To Do It challenge: (book title) Wild Sky

Word count: 1,424


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